BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 229 



Genus PLAGIOSPIZA Ridg>Aray. 



Plagiospiza Ridgway, Auk, xv, July, 1898 (pub. May 14, 1898), 224. (Type, 

 A'.mojMla superciHowt S\vaini?on. ) 



Stoutly built terrestrial Fringillidse, with short truncated wing (less 

 than three times as long as tarsus), short graduated tail with narrow 

 rectrices, and plumage conspicuously striped above. 



Bill stout (depth through base exceeding gonj-s or length of maxilla 

 from nostril), the exposed culmen a little more than half as long as 

 tarsus; culmen slightly convex at tip and base, straight, or slightly 

 depressed in the middle portion; gonys straight, with rather promi- 

 nent basal angle; maxillary tomium faintly concave terminally and 

 subbasally, faintly convex between, the slight basal deflection begin- 

 ning beneath posterior end of nostril. Nostrils small, horizontal, 

 pointed anteriorly, with broad overhanging scale. Wing very short 

 (onlj' about two and three-fourths times as long as tarsus); eighth to 

 fifth quills equal and longest, the ninth and fourth but little shorter, 

 the former being decidedly longer than the third and very much longer 

 than the secondaries; primaries exceeding secondaries bj' more than 

 length of maxilla from nostril, but less than length of culmen; tertials 

 longer than secondaries, reaching nearly to tip of longest primaries. 

 Tail much shorter than wing, graduated for about the length of the 

 bill from nostril, the rectrices very narrow but rounded at tips. Tar- 

 sus rather short (less than twice as long as exposed culmen), very 

 slightly exceeding middle toe with claw, rathef stout, its scutella dis- 

 tinct; lateral claws falling a little short of base of middle claw; hallux 

 about equal to middle toe, its claw nearly as long as the digit. 



Coloration. — Verj'^ conspicuouslj' streaked everywhere above, plain 

 light brownish gray beneath (nearly white on chin, upper throat, and 

 belly), the under tail-coverts with dusky streaks; a broad and' conspic- 

 uous dusky band on sides of head, with a conspicuous superciliary 

 •stripe of brownish white or buffy above it. 



Range. — Highlands of Mexico. (Monotypic.) 



PLAGIOSPIZA SUPERCILIOSA (Swainson), 

 STRIPED SPARROW, 



AchilU {sexes alike). — Pileum chestnut, streaked with black and with 

 a more or less distinct median stripe of pale buffj' and black streaks; 

 back and scapulars light brown, broadly and sharpty streaked with 

 black; rectrices blackish, edged with light brown or brownish gray 

 and more or less tipped with a paler tint of the same, especially on 

 outermost rectrices, the middle pair with the light brown or grayish 

 edgings very broad and the black median stripe with serrated edgings, 



